One of the things I hope the Book Blogger Directory accomplishes is helping promote new blogs. In furtherance of that, I’m going to be featuring interviews with a number of newer blogs. It’s so much fun to know more about the blogger behind the blog. If you stared blogging in 2011 and you’re interested in being featured, shoot me an e-mail (alisoncanread at gmail dot com).

The first interview is with Al of Magnet4Books’ Reviews. She started blogging in March. She has a very colorful blog and great, thorough reviews. I highly recommend checking her out!

I’m 22 y/o (23 in June!!), I live in Georgia. I’m in my 3rd year of college: majoring in Psych and minoring in Creative Writing. I also work part-time at a grocery store deli.

4. What types of books do you review on your blog?

I review MOSTLY YA. But I do read occasional adult books if enough (or just certain) people suggest them to me. John Grisham & Nicholas Sparks are amazing.

5. Why did you decide to start blogging?

Well, the thought was something I’d been toying with for awhile because I really have no one in my life that I can talk to about books. At least not as much as I would like. Then, one day, I found a blog, and thought, wow. That is awesome. But I never really thought about people caring what I have to say about them until I read Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. And I fell in love with the book, and I had to tell someone. It was 3 AM, and I just needed to vent. Julie, who ran the first blog I ever found (Bloggers Heart Books) was on Twitter, and it just hit me- I’M GOING TO START A BLOG! and she was nice enough to tweet about it to get me started- before I ever wrote more than the first post. :) I’m not even sure the first post was written at that point. haha

6. What do you like do to when you’re not reading or blogging?

Well, besides work and school, I don’t have a WHOLE lot of time to do much else. Reading is how I destress. Or writing. I love writing! (not that I’ve done much of it outside of writing about books, but I do love it VERY much!

7. Do you listen to music while you read? If so, what do you like to listen to?

It depends. If I’m really into a book, I don’t care if music is playing, but if it’s slow going, I almost always have music on. It helps keep me focused, I think. Or at least actively thinking so I don’t get sidetracked. (Which I do VERY easily!) I usually just put on a playlist shuffle. But Taylor Swift is always on there. Always!

8. Tell us one thing about you that would surprise us

Hm. Surprising? I’m a pretty boring person! haha.. I almost died when I was five because I fell on a set of tea glass/saucers/pot. I have a scar across my face from it. I wasn’t ever supposed to be able to open my mouth at all, even to smile. But I beat the odds :)

Favorites:

-Book(s) you read in the past few years:

Um, can I name a few?HUNGER GAMES! I can’t even begin to explain how obsessed I became when I read that trilogy. I couldn’t read another book for like at least two weeks. I couldn’t stop thinking about it! I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before. Not even with Twilight (which I consumed like cotton candy at a carnival)!13 Reasons Why- that book just broke me and healed me all at the same time. It was just… perfection binded together with a hauntingly beautiful cover! I can’t gush enough about the book. Ever.The Mortal Instruments series. (I know these are all super popular- but you know, sometimes they are popular for a reason!) Epically amazing.
ANYTHING by Sarah Dessen is gold. Like, if someone offered me a chance to meet Sarah Dessen or a brand new car guaranteed to never ever break down. I might possibly choose meeting Sarah Dessen. She. is. my. HERO.

-Book(s) from childhood:

I have always been a reader for as long as I can remember. I consumed the Babysitter’s Club books,and then Karen’s books. And of course, there was Goosebumps.But I moved onto older books pretty early (because I had no choice but to read my Mom’s books. John Grisham is the first AUTHOR I remember ever falling in love with. (Still am.)

Haha, I was a pretty bad student, actually. I guess I was too busy reading my own books to worry about school. But I have always loved To Kill A Mockingbird. I wrote a paper on it in 9th AND 11th grade. The rest were pretty depressing. (I will never understand people’s deep and never dying devotion to Shakespeare. I just can’t.

-Book(s) that made you cry:

Honestly, it doesn’t make much to make me cry when I read books. (More so than movies). But 13 Reasons Why was a heartbreaker. And so was Delirium by Lauren Oliver. and ANYTHING by Nicholas Sparks will have me sobbing buckets. Guaranteed.

-Book to movie adaptation(s):

Um Sparks books’ adaptations have all been pretty awesome (excluding the Last Song- but that might just be my personal dislike of Miley Cyrus). I wasn’t impressed with Twilight (although I watch them). I’m pretty excited about HG! I’m praying they don’t mess it up.

-Place to read:

My bed. I like to have lots of pillows around when I read. Maybe for comfort. Because I will probably be crying! haha

-Book cover(s):

Oooh! That’s hard. I love Delirium‘s cover. I instantly adore Dessen’s too. But i’m prob just impartial. And the Mortal

Instruments covers are amazing. AND WITHER! I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but cover is AMAZINGGGGG!!!!!
Also, it hasn’t come out yet, but I’m seriously in love with the cover of Hourglass by Myra McEntire. I can’t even explain how much I love it. It’s fantastic.

-Book blogs:

I sadly do not get to visit as nearly as many as I like. But as I said, the Bloggers Heart Books blog is the first one I ever found, and Julie’s suggestions have NEVER led me wrong. I will pretty much read anything she suggests. (Until proven wrong.)Alison Can Read blog is also really fantastic. Other than that, I tend to just go through my dashboard occasionally, and click on titles that seem interesting! I plan to be better this summer at following blogs though! Everyone has been SO SO supportive of me. I definitely want to reciprocate!!

This was a wonderful idea Alison and a great interview. Now I’m going to have to go and check out Al’s blog. We seem to like the same books, even though I have not read a single Sarh Dessen book. I’m reading Delerium right now and I’ve already cried. The scene with the dog. So sad. Ok! Thanks for doing the interview Al. Good luck with your blog.

Hi! Book Blogger Directory…
What a very interesting interview [Since I interview follow book bloggers, on my blog
…I always find it a special treat to read fellow book blogger’s thoughts…]
I also like the one-on-one interaction here at Book Blog Directory. [More personal and quite an inviting feeling…everyone seems so nice too!]
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee ;-D

With havin so much written content do you ever run into
any issues of plagorism or copyright violation?
My website has a lot of unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any techniques to help stop content from being ripped off? I’d
truly appreciate it.

I usually do not drop a leave a response, but I browsed a few responses here New Blogger Interview: Magnet4Books’ Reviews | Book Blogger Directory.
I do have some questions for you if you don’t mind. Is it only me or does it appear like some of the comments come across like they are written by brain dead visitors? :-P And, if you are writing on other online social sites, I’d like to
keep up with you. Would you list of the complete urls of all your shared pages like your twitter feed, Facebook page or
linkedin profile?

Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I think that you could do with a few pics to drive the message home a little
bit, but instead of that, this is fantastic blog.
A fantastic read. I will definitely be back.

Hi there, I do believe your blog could possibly be having web
browser compatibility issues. Whenever I take a look at your web site in Safari, it looks
fine however when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues.
I just wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Other than that, wonderful website!